I recently purchased a Yellowstone Solo Royalex after paddling a Prism Tuff-weave with a tractor seat. I was always a sitter (non-kneeler). I thought I would learn to kneel in my new boat but the reality is I will probably never be able to kneel comfortably. The stock cane seat position was to high to sit without being tippy and to low to get my size 12 feet and stiff ankles under the seat to kneel. I finally lengthened the thwarts two inches to splay the hull open and lowered the stock seat an inch. That fixed the tippiness but the seat was very uncomfortable. I bought a Therma-Rest cushion but it slopped me around too much. I just mounted a Wenonah tractor seat in my YS and I can finally enjoy paddling it. I find that the tractor seat (canted a little further back than the stock Wenonah position)really locks me in with my butt up against the cantel. I find I can use my hips more effectively to balance and even heel the hull a little.
What seat do other sitters prefer? Any suggestions for what else I might try to customize my YS for sitting?
tractor seats
I have had tractor seats in all of my canoes, including the stripe built one. With various joint/muscle problems I find them the most comfortable. I don’t do much paddling on wild water.
I have several friends who race wild water etc and they have put tractor sliders in their penobscots, so I guess that says some thing…
tractor seat
in my Kruger. Best seat ever
I Liked My Sawyer Tractor Seat
Best I've sat in. My Mad River Monarch wasn't too bad. I would like to see pics of your modifications. I've had few boats in the last 10 years that I didn't modify in a couple of areas; I'm always interested in the modifications others do to their canoes. WW
Tractor
I have had a whole slew of Wenonah and Sawyer canoes all with tractor seats and never really thought about how comfy they were.
I bought a Bell Northwoods a couple years ago and they only offer bench seats which I thought would be no big deal.
After several outings in the Bell with my legs falling asleep which had never been an issue for me (and listening to other people paddling with me complain about the same issue) I ordered up some seats from Wenonah. End of issue.
Foam ww Pedestal(my #1 choice)
Unless it’s a Wenonah tractor I usually have the stock seat set back a little and use a foam ww pedestal(customized ) glued to my foam flooring with velcroed kneepads and ankle-blocks. Get the right couple densities of foam and the pedestal can be heaven.
$.01
Web For Me
I have several canoes. The web seats are my choice.
Tractor or Ed’s cane bucket.
I like both the Sawyer and Wenonah tractor seats and this summer installed an Ed’s cane bucket seat in one of my solos to replace a straight cane seat. I’ve been paddling the boat with the Ed’s cane bucket the most this summer and it’s worked pretty well.
From the mouths of babes
I am coaching a couple of kids in my church in paddling. Mostly they are in my 18 foot Jensen with tractor seats. I had them try several other canoes that are closer in size for middle schoolers. I would have thought my sons 16 footer or my 15’8" would be more to their comfort level. They love the Jensen. ( Which is a great boat but the two of them can not put the boat up to the 3 inch water line ). When finally questioned it was that they prefer the tractor seats. Admitedley they have tiny hieneies but they prefer tractor seats.
photos of my seat installation
I’ve attached photos of my wenonah seat installation in my Yellowstone Solo. Note:
-Ledger board with multiple holes for trying different seat positions.
-The stock Bell drops unmodified but reversed to cant the seat back slightly in stead of forward.
-I used Bella Wood oak floor planks left over from a flooring installation to make the seat brackets. I rounded over the top edge of the bracket to fit in the attachment lugs cast into the bottom of the Wenonah seat.
Tractor seats for me, and I can only add
if you don’t have a foot brace, you might want to add a adjustable one.
In that way you can lock yourself in nicely.
cheers,
JackL
good pictures
Are there many sources for tractor seats?
I have a foot brace from Wenonah that was good value and works well even with my webbing seats. I sending the above posters notes.
one source for tractor seats
besides tractors of course…
One can always check out ZRE. They have two different styles of carbon fiber tractor seats for about $60.
I haven’t bought one but they look pretty decent.
Superior Canoes, Wenonah, Clipper.
I believe that tractor style seats are available from all three.